The economic slowdown has cast its shadow on the government’s revenue realisation, with advance tax collections declining by over 22 per cent to Rs 42,600 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal from Rs 54,900 crore a year ago.Taxes paid by companies went down by 22.4 per cent, making it a bad year for direct tax collection. Direct tax collection in November had gone down by over 35 per cent, compared to the same month last year.For the first three quarters of the year ended December 15, advance tax collection fell by 2.6 per cent to Rs 1,13,000 crore from Rs 1,16,000 crore in the corresponding period last year, finance ministry sources said. India Inc has been hit hard by the current global slowdown with the margins of many firms getting battered. To help industry, which has seen a fall in growth, the government had on December 7 released a stimulus package. It is planning to introduce a second one soon. “The fall in advance tax collection shows anticipated lower profits by companies this fiscal,” an analyst said. Direct tax collection, which took a beating in November, was up 11.5 per cent at Rs 2,32,000 crore till December 24, this fiscal from Rs 2,08,000 crore in the earlier year. Also, corporate tax collection rose 15.3 per cent to Rs 1,50,000 crore from 1,30,000 crore, sources said.The decline in advance tax collection is disappointing, particularly when the government had revised upwards its direct tax collection target by nearly Rs 30,000 crore to around Rs 3,95,000 crore, after collections in the first two months showed substantial rise.
